Space Between
by Tari Roo
Summary: Colonel Escort Duty either ended in boredom or disaster and Sheppard had drawn the short draw to escort Colonel Carter offworld. What could go wrong? Short one shot based on prompt


Prompt fic: The Space Between  
Autor: Tari_Roo  
Fandom: SGA  
Rating: Gen, PG13  
Characters: Sheppard, Carter  
Disclaimer: If they were mine, SGA would still be on, and SG1 would guest star on a regular basis. Alas, this is not so. And SGU would make sense because Rodney figured out how to turn Destiny around  
Spoilers: None really, set mid season 4, before Midway.  
AN: Saphirablue was looking for a fic (full prompt below) and I liked the idea of that ... and then there was this.

SG*sg*SG*sg*SG*sg* SG*sg*SG*sg*SG*sg* SG*sg*SG*sg*SG*sg* SG*sg*SG*sg*SG*sg*

You had to keep in mind that ruins were ... well ruined. And usually after the first five minutes, kinda boring unless you were the archaeological type, who liked poking around the remnants of a long dead and gone people. At first glance, Sam Carter was not said archaeological type, being the math geek variety but years of friendship with Daniel Jackson had apparently rubbed off.

She was nodding enthusiastically as Dr Nyugen expounded loudly and with rather more salvia than was normal the striking parallels between these ruins and Neolithic ruins on Orkney, mostly to do with carved balls? And something about the influence of returning Ancients on human culture... yadda yadda.

Sheppard fought a yawn, failed and felt his jaw creak in response. The weather was perfect on Pegasus-Orkney, a far cry from its Earth compatriot and between the pleasantly warm sun, soft ocean breeze and several long, tiring days on the trot, Sheppard was fighting more than just the urge to yawn.

Ronon and Teyla were poking around the large stone pillars which were not duplicated on any Earth Neolithic site, massive monoliths that dwarfed Stonehenge and were scattered haphazardly around the ancient village. Dr Nyugen was dragging Col. Carter towards room number 101, probably, still talking a mile a minute trying to motivate her team's continued deployment on Porkney ... Orkanasus?

Rodney had already dubbed the place 'Planet Snooze Age' and had refused to come along with them, Sheppard having lost the rock paper scissors with Lorne for Colonel Escort Duty. John suspected Lorne was still smarting over the last 'escort Colonel Carter Offworld' debacle and no matter how boring PSR-376 sounded, Evan was not taking one for the team, Team Sheppard that is.

"Clear signs of geological instability, Colonel. Probably one of the few cultures in Pegasus which did not succumb to the Wraith but suffered from some natural catastrophe."

Sheppard tried to catch Carter's eyes as she passed him, but she was either really interested in Nyugen's spiel or purposefully ignoring him. Pulling out his canteen, noting how light it was getting, Sheppard took a careful sip but couldn't help the smirk. As much as his suggestion to Nyugen that only Carter could save her expedition had backfired with his team ending up as escort, it'd still been pretty funny watching Carter trying to fend off the oh so persistent Nagging Nyugen.

Bored, John trailed the two ladies, motioning to the others his intention, which Teyla acknowledged as Dex was too busy eyeing out the tall stone pillar, no doubt bored enough himself to contemplate trying to climb them. The carved trunk was an inviting free climb, but judging by the reaction of the Archaeologists last time, Ronon's attempt would be no more well received than John's.

Nyugen was heading towards the piece de resistance, the jewel of her Neolithic crown. Still talking a mile a minute, she ducked down through one of the low doors into one of the intact buildings, mounds, whatever, and Sheppard reached out of steady Carter, as the drop to the first step was unexpectedly steep.

Well used to the drop, Dr Nyugen didn't even notice Carter's awkward descent down the steep stairs and she shot Sheppard a grateful look when they reached the bottom. "Rodney nearly broke his neck first time we were here..."

Sam smiled, turned to look around and gaped in amazement. The room beneath the innocuous mound was much larger than it appeared from outside, dug deep and wide. It's long ago inhabitants had carefully paved roof, floor and walls in a breathtaking mosaic. The steady light from a portable generator only just illuminated the entire room, its distant edges slightly shadowed. Never the less, the artificial light picked up on the hundreds of bright green leaves, and dark brown, red, yellow branches and trunks and canopy obscured blue sky.

"It's incredible," Sam exclaimed, running a careful hand over the mosaic, noting the smooth material, the perfect fit.

"Yes, indeed. A complete recreation of a jungle, one really feels that you are enveloped in a rainforest or tropical jungle..."

Dr Nyugen continued to waffle on while Sam walked around, noting how the odd support column added to the overall feel of being surrounded by a jungle. It wasn't just trees, there were vines and flowers and birds and insects, all lovingly depicted, etched in colour and stone. Even the floor underfoot was dappled in dark greens and light spots, mimicking the sun deprived ground cover of a jungle. Sheppard knelt to examine a delicate insect, Carter joining him. "The detail is exquisite. Craftmanship like this hardly compares to the Stone Age buildings."

From across the room, Nyugen nodded vigorously, "Exactly, Col. Carter, there are more conundrums than anything else in this room. Were these people from another world, one they fled through the StarGate, or is this an example of a culture and ecology under crisis, Rapa Nui in Pegasus or a side effect of the geological instability. Did these people remember a different time, when their world was covered in jungle... did the geological catastrophe also destroy an older, more advanced culture leaving these hardy survivors to carve out a memorial to their home using techniques long lost..."

She trailed off, staring up at the stone canopy, reaching idly upwards, as if the leaves were in reach, real and vibrant. Sotto, Sheppard sighed, "It is pretty interesting, Colonel."

Carter rolled her eyes, mock grimacing but nodding even as she did so. "There are hundreds, thousands of interesting things in Pegasus, Col. And this is pretty ... intriguing, but hardly something that the IOA would see as ..."

"Profitable?" John supplied, watching Sam's grimace turn real.

"Worthwhile," she corrected. "Not exactly ground breaking technology, or Earth saving discoveries... you know, the kinda things the IOA feels are ..."

"Worthwhile," Sheppard supplied, sharing her sad smile, well aware of the IOA's priorities, which often meant the softer, less Rodney McKay-like sciences taking a back foot, getting their funding pulled.

Standing quickly, Sam felt a sudden head rush, reached out to steady herself with a 'Woah...' feeling as if the earth was moving too, only Sheppard was swaying, latching onto her. "Tremor. Come on..."

Dr Nyugen was already staggering towards the stairs, calling over her shoulder, "Not to worry, Colonel. Happens quite a lot, these tremors. Usually just two or three, over pretty quickly."

The tremors were not dissipating though, and a particularly loud rumble nearly knocked Sam to her feet, John's strong hands on her shoulder and elbow steadying her. "Nearly there."

Nyugen was already at the door, a dark silhouette against the bright sunlight, her arm raised above her head, warding off the shower of dirt and dust. She shouted over the noise of the earth groaning and straining. "Pretty big one... hope Parker's got the Richter set up this time!"

And with that there was an almighty crack as the floor in front of Sheppard and Carter spilt, the roof above doing the same and the rain of dust turned into a torrent of tiles and mosaic pieces. "Run, Colonel!"

Sheppard's hand was firm on the small of her back and Sam needed no further impetus but the ground was moving too much, sliding beneath her feet and she went down, barely a few feet from the steep stairs. The growing noise of the earth in distress was thrumming through her, and Sam looked up to see actual real blue sky above before the roof caved in and something unyielding and black fell over her.

SG*sg*SG*sg*SG*sg* SG*sg*SG*sg*SG*sg* SG*sg*SG*sg*SG*sg* SG*sg*SG*sg*SG*sg*

"Sheppard!"

"Is Dr Nyugen ok?"

"Barely breathing, we need..."

"Sheppard!"

"Colonel Sheppard, Colonel Carter, please respond!"

"We have to send someone to the Gate, now!"

SG*sg*SG*sg*SG*sg* SG*sg*SG*sg*SG*sg* SG*sg*SG*sg*SG*sg* SG*sg*SG*sg*SG*sg*

There was something tickling her nose, something fine and light and damn annoying. "If that's you, Jack..."

Sam opened her eyes to dim darkness, and as she blinked and her eyes adjusted, the darkness lightened – barely. It was difficult to see exactly what and where... but Jack was definitely nowhere in sight. Finding it difficult to breath, something heavy pressing down on her, Sam twisted her neck a little and nearly head butted Sheppard.

Sheppard was sprawled over her, his head draped over her shoulder, long hair brushing against her face. Sam tried to move, tried to shift him a little, but it was like trying to ... a mountain? Finally taking a real, proper, good look around it all came back – the quake and crashing tiles and collapsing roof. Carter was on her side, almost foetal, John sprawled over her, his tac vest pressing into her shoulder and arm. There was a small pocket of space around them, rock and rubble all around, but not completely solid as light was filtering through.

Worried John was being crushed by the weight of the rocks above them, Sam tried to see what, if any, room there was between Sheppard and the collapsed roof. No matter how she moved, or wiggled, she couldn't quite see and Carter tried vigorously to inch her way forward and maybe out from under John if only to...

"Stop ... Carter, please... stop."

Sam froze, eyes darting to Sheppard's face. His breathing had increased, a pained hitch and moan and she couldn't see his face, his head still bowed, too close to her but she could feel the hot exhales of his breath on her neck.

"John."

He was trying to get himself under control, manage the pain, push it away, or maybe just not start screaming.

Licking dusty lips, realising just how thirsty she was, Sam said softly, "John. Sheppard, I know this is gonna sound stupid ... but where does it hurt?"

There was a chuff of hurt laughter on her neck and Sheppard groaned, "Everywhere. Back... chest. Can't breath."

Biting her lip now, still trying to see how the rocks were lying above them, Carter asked, "Is it pressing down on you, does it feel like..."

"A frigging mountain... yeah."

"Kay... I'm not feeling anything more than ... ah, you, so maybe you're just pined." Wishing she had a flashlight, remembering that John probably did, Sam twisted a little, apologised at the same time and began patting down the tac vest above her.

"Not that I don't mind a .. beautiful woman... feeling me up but what..."

John actually lifted his head up this time, and Sam smiled at his dazed, maybe concussed expression and said, "Hey. Flashlight?"

"Bottom pocket... left... no right."

Pulling it out was a little tricky and Sam winced at the odd angle and then nearly blinded herself then Sheppard when she turned it on. "Sorry."

"Guh."

The strong beam shed a lot of light though, both on their surrounds and situation. Craning her neck, Sam ran the flashlight over the rocks above, trying to determine what was balancing on each other and John. "How's the breathing, Sheppard? Pulse? Headache?"

"Tight. Not a clue. Hell yeah."

"Hmmmm..."

"I hope that's a ... hmmm, why didn't I see the obvious way out kinda hmmmm and not a 'I better not tell John just how screwed we are' hmmmm."

Sheppard was making absolutely no effort to move, in fact, he was trying very hard not to move, Sam noting his right hand slowly fisting and unfisting sporadically.

"It's a 'I have an idea you're not going to like but it may help' hmmmm..."

"I hate those hmmmmms."

Sam turned to try catch Sheppard's gaze again and he obliged, a thin trickle of blood creeping down out of his hairline. "I don't think you're bearing the full weight of the rocks. I think you're more pinned between me and the rock."

"How clichéd... hard place... rock."

Smiling a little, Carter said, "So the good news is, if we can turn... if you can let me... I can turn onto my back and you should get some room... not a lot but at least..."

"Some."

"Yeah."

"Or just bring the whole pile down on us."

Inserting as much confidence as she could, Sam shook her head and smiled reassuringly, "Doubt it."

"Kay." The go ahead was breathy, weak and decidedly drained. Carter pressed on none the less. "So, if you can... give me some room." Sam was moving even as she spoke, certain the sooner they did this the better and as she turned, pressing her shoulder into the floor and Sheppard's tac vest respectively, she pushed against the unyielding weight, trying to shove past...

"Stop, stop, stop, stop..."

Mercilessly, Carter pressed on and was one moment jammed against Sheppard and the next had his full weight on top of her, but the weight infinitely less. There was a soft shift above, a weak trail of dust and dirt but nothing moved materially.

Sheppard was boneless, maybe unconscious, and Sam reached around him with one hand, feeling out just how much of a gap they had gained. It was slight, barely enough to fit her hand in, but already Sheppard's breathing sounded better. With her other hand, Carter felt for Sheppard's pulse, noted just how high and thready it was.

"I hate this... being trapped, I mean. You feeling me up ... not so much," John mumbled into her hair, still not really moving.

"John. John! Colonel!"

"Yes... ma'am?"

"Can you move your feet, hands, arms?" Carter felt his answer first, his boots scuffing into hers, an elbow in her side as he tried to move.

"Ahh... hurts. But yeah." John tried to raise his head, nearly banged into the rock above and ended up collapsing onto her shoulder again. There wasn't enough room to try lay down next to each other, so this would just have to do. Sheppard, perhaps not as out of it as he seemed, sighed, "No offense, Colonel, but this is a little too close for comfort..."

"None taken, Sheppard. I think you have a concussion though, so no nodding off, got it?"

"Yes, sir... ma'am."

The thing was, it wasn't entirely unpleasant... now. Sure John was heavy and his vest was poking her in odd places, but at least it was John Sheppard and not Ronon or Teal'c. Rather belatedly, as if the idea of her distant friend kicked her back into reality, Colonel Carter tapped her ear wig and tried to raise a response.

"Hello, this is Carter. Can anyone hear me?"

There was nothing for a good few moments, and Sam felt John try to do the same, his arm swinging up and futilely tapping only for him to say, "Radio's gone. Musta fell..."

"Col... Cartr... c'n hear... pls respnd."

"Thank goodness! This is Carter, you're breaking up. But I can hear you."

"Tyl... digging... hold on. Shep... r u... ok?"

Smiling in relief, Carter said as slowly and clearly as she could, "Colonel Sheppard is with me. Hurt, but alive. We're a few feet from the stairs."

"10-4."

Carter felt John shift a little and sigh, "She's been watching Smokey and the Bandit again..." Sam smiled, and then sputtered as John moved, giving her a mouthful of hair. "Sorry..."

"It's fine. Teal'c loves Star Wars... seen it a hundred times."

Sheppard didn't move, face turned away from her, still resting on her shoulder, but he was clear, hardly slurring his words at all. "Ronon's easy to please... big guns, explosions, monsters. Got a real kick out of Deep Blue Sea. Teyla though... kinda weird ... preferences."

"How so?" Sam asked, looking up at the rocks, particularly where the light from outside was brightest, straining to hear any sounds of rescue.

"Loves Princes Bride, hates Snow White. Wants to watch Blazing Saddles regularly, refuses to see anything with Dustin Hoffman. Weird."

Laughing a little, careful not to jostle him, Sam sighed, "Oh, don't let me get started on Jack's idea of team movie night... Cam though, Starship Trooper junkie."

Sheppard's huff was maybe laughter, maybe not, but he seemed to be breathing much easier, and was probably heading towards sleep. "Hey, hey ... terrible CO that I am ... you bleeding anywhere, broken bones?"

Sam very professionally ran an exploratory hand searching for damp spots, winces or hot zones, half expecting another comment about being felt up by his CO, or making Rodney jealous. "No, not ... really. You, Colonel?"

"Uh?" Sam paused, ran a quick scan of her own body, and said a little relieved, "Hurt, probably bruised, but nothing too serious... and,"

"We both know serious," Sheppard finished. "Yeah."

Silence fell for a few moments and that was enough to hear the first sounds of a rescue, distant voices, tools on rock. "Thank goodness."

"So, do you miss them?"

Still looking up, trying to see their rescuers, Sam didn't even pretend not to know what he was talking about. "Every day. Even Vala..."

No response from John, just quiet breathing.

"I kinda hate being the Boss sometimes, you know?"

"Yeah..."

"Too many years running off, defying orders, living to tell the tale... that kinda thing."

"Sure," John was fading, voice a whisper.

"Scares me... being in charge – the one everyone looks to, have to have an answer." Sam was talking more to herself than anything, but she felt John move, muffle a groan and then take her free hand and give it a squeeze.

Smiling a little, Sam opened her mouth to continue but John's lazy drawl brushed that aside with, "I see her face, every night, yelling at me to leave... run."

Uncertain, Carter drew in a deep breath and said, "I... John, John!" Sheppard was well and truly boneless against her, passed out, head lolling around. "Sheppard!" Shaking free of his hand, Sam grabbed his face, turned it towards her and squeezed, rubbing her knuckles near his collar bone as well. "John!"

He blinked, groaned and mumbled, "M'tired."

Relieved, sighing loudly, Sam positioned his head so that she could see him better, watch the soft brush of dark eyelashes on skin, the tight grimace of pain, the dazed pupils. "I know you're tired, Colonel, but help is almost..."

There was a clatter of rock on rock off to the right, and then a bright beam of sunlight pierced their little tomb and Teyla shouted, "Colonel Carter, John! Are you there?"

"You got us, Teyla. Keep going."

Still unseen, Teyla yelled back, "The Combat Engineers have arrived, and Dr Keller."

"Great."

There was a brief lapse of silence, during which John sighed quietly, "About frigging time. At least it wasn't 6 months this time."

Knowing full well that they were about to be bombarded with questions from Keller and Marines, Carter said quickly, "Thanks for saving my life ..."

"Does this mean I get a raise?"

Whatever else Sam might have said, was lost in the hubbub on top and the strident tones of one Rodney McKay. "What the hell is taking so long?"

SG*sg*SG*sg*SG*sg* SG*sg*SG*sg*SG*sg* SG*sg*SG*sg*SG*sg* SG*sg*SG*sg*SG*sg*

The Atlantis infirmary was quiet, once again. Hovering team members dispersed, sobbing Archaeologists consoled and the leaders of the City quietly sent to bed. Sam had elected to stay overnight, while John had not had the choice.

Whilst nothing was broken, he had welts and bruises up the wazoo, Keller's exact turn of phrase and she wanted to watch his kidney output. Sam had a nice collection of bruises too, just far less severe or numerous.

It wasn't particularly late, and Sam was strangely wide awake. So she carefully manoeuvred out of bed, and gingerly made her way to Sheppard's curtained off side of the infirmary. As she called out softly and opened the curtains, the sight of John set up with a laptop, earphones, illegal brownies and a stack of pirated DVDs actually caught her breath. The sudden, deep ache for her team, her friends was acute and she almost turned around and fled, despite Sheppard having already seen her.

"Rodney brought Galaxy Quest."

Sheppard wasn't looking at her directly, more rooting around in his nose bag of goodies but the invitation was clear, the offer genuine. The chair looked hard and uncomfortable, but Sam edged over anyway and said gruffly as she sat down, "Are those Maquire's brownies or MacIntosh's?"

"Maquires."

"Hand 'em over."

"Sure thing, Boss."

As the laptop booted up and Sam put her feet up on Sheppard's bed, she idly wondered what her team were up to tonight.

SG*sg*SG*sg*SG*sg* SG*sg*SG*sg*SG*sg* SG*sg*SG*sg*SG*sg* SG*sg*SG*sg*SG*sg*

Fin

Original Prompt from Saphirablue:

And, I would love to read fics where John throws himself on somebody to protect them from an explosion/falling debris/whatever, they get trapped with John still lying over the one he is protecting and being unconcious and the one under him is trapped by him and can't move away (maybe because debris is lying on top of them) and therefore can't tend to John's injuries - maybe can only take is pulse and feel if he is still breathing and relying this information to the rescue team? Maybe John wakes up from time to time and is disoriented and the one under him has to calm him down and prevent him from moving too much? I take everyone under him but I think I would love you forever if the one is either Evan, Sam Carter or an OC Marine or scientist. Does such a fic exist? Would you give me the link to it if you know/find such a fic (once again, please no WIPs)? Pretty please? *pokes her clon!John to make some puppy eyes* Thank you!


End file.
